What is research?

• research. 1.a. the systematic investigation

into and study of materials, sources, etc, in
order to establish facts and reach new
conclusions. b. an endeavour to discover new
or facts etc by the scientific study of a subject
or by a course of critical investigation. [Oxford
Concise Dictionary]

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 Research
• Research is the systematic collection, analysis and
interpretation of data to answer a certain question or
solve a problem
• Research is what we do when we have a question or a
problem we want to resolve
• It is crucial to follow cascading scientific steps when
conducting one‟s research
We specialize in state-of-the-art analysis of food and
feed. We determine levels of chemical and
microbiological contamination and study their
effects, authenticate food, and perform forensic
research. It is our task to monitor changes and
trends in the food production chain and to identify
emerging risks.
Analyzing food and feed WFSR develops and
applies a wide range of analytical methods for
examining the safety of food and feed products. We
determine the presence of specific pathogens and
food borne viruses and levels of substances and
contaminations that may have an effect on food
safety. We check the authenticity and compliance of
test results with feed and food law. 3
VM 830 is designed to provide students with the knowledge
and application of basic research methodology. This will be
very useful to students that would like a step-by-step approach
to designing, conducting and writing their Applied Project in
Food Safety (VM 815). Major topics: Formulating a research
problem; Identifying variables and constructing hypotheses;
Scientific writing; Library resources and literature review;
Study design; Introduction to statistical methods; Data
collection, processing and display; Research ethics.

4
 Scope of Research
• Varies by level of work
– Ph.D. students – contribution expected at
world level; e.g.
• background investigation on all past work
• make meaningful addition to world knowledge
– Undergraduate students – contribution can be
at local to national to world level; e.g.
• background investigation at university up to world
level
• make meaningful addition to university up to world
level of knowledge
 What Isn‟t Research
• Playing with technology
• Book report
• Programming project
• Doing what others have already done

• However, each of these can be done as

part of research
 Who Does Research?
• Graduate Students
– Masters Degree (lower standard)
– Ph.D. Degree (higher standard)
• Researchers at universities
– Post-Doctoral students
– Faculty members
• Researchers in industry
– Research scientists
– Many other technical workers
• Undergraduate students (like you)
 Who Does Research? (2)
• Individuals
• Teams

• Teams almost always make the process

easier
– Division of labor
– Feedback from team members
– Each member can work to own strengths
 Steps of Scientific Research
Selection of area no need for study

Selection of topic answers found

Crude research question Literature review

no answer

Refined research question

Research hypothesis, goals and objectives

Study design Ethical issues

Population & sampling

Variables confounding bias

Research tools

Pilot study

Work plan

Collection of data

Data management

Interpretation

Reporting
 Selection of Research Area
• Selection of this broad entity of research is
based on the following:
– researcher‟s:
• Specialty
• Interest
• Scientific background
• Experience
– Actual need for research in this area
– Available resources (interest of funding body)
 Selection of Research Topics
The priority of a topic for research depends on:
– The characteristics of the problem (topic):
• Impact on health:
– Magnitude
– Seriousness
– Preventability
– Curability
• Available interventions
• Proposed solutions

– The characteristics of the proposed study:

• Feasibility
• Cost-effectiveness
• Applicability of the results
 Research question
The investigator must make sure that:

• He has a research question

• The question is clear and specific
• It reflects the objectives of the study
• It has no answer by common sense
• It has no answer in the LITERATURE
• Finding an answer to the question will
solve or at least help in solving the
problem to be studied.
Doing a Literature Review
 What is a “Literature Review”?
• “…a literature review surveys scientific
articles, books, journals, dissertations and
other sources […] relevant to a particular
issue, area of research, or theory,
providing a description, summary, and
critical evaluation of each work.”
 Rationale
• An explanation of the fundamental
reasons for your research

• Justification of your work

 Goals and Objectives

Goals = Objectives
Research Goal & Objectives
• The goal (aim) and objectives must be stated at the very
beginning of the study, since they will guide the investigator
during the process of formulating research questions and
hypothesis.

• They will also help in the prioritization process.

• They will enable the reader or consumer of the work to

judge whether the investigator had achieved these
objectives or not.
 Goals
• It describes the aim of the work in broad
terms
 Objectives
• These are more specific and relate directly
to research question. They may be divided
into two types:

– Primary objectives  (bound to be achieved)

– Secondary objectives  (by the way)
 Research Objectives
• The research objectives should be:
– Closely related to the research question
– Covering all aspects of the problem
– Very specific
– Ordered in a logical sequence
– Stated in action verbs that could be evaluated e.g. to
describe, to identify, to measure, to compare, etc.
– Achievable, taking into consideration the available
resources and time
– Mutually exclusive, with no repetitions or overlaps
 SMART Objectives
• S Specific
• M Measurable
• A Achievable
• R Relevant
• T Time-bound
 Research objectives
• Properly formulated, specific objectives
will facilitate the development of your
research methodology and will help to
orient the collection, analysis,
interpretation and utilization of data.
 What do we mean by research ethics?

• An „ethic‟ is a moral principle or a code of

conduct which … governs what people do.
It is concerned with the way people act or
behave. The term „ethics‟ usually refers to
the moral principles, guiding conduct,
which are held by a group or even a
profession (though there is no logical
reason why individuals should not have
their own ethical code)” (Wellington, 2000:
54)
 What are ethics?
• Societal norms adopted by a group
– A conception of conduct that is right or wrong
• Deal with fundamental human
relationships
• Are a universal human trait
 Ethics in Research – Why?
To protect rights and welfare of
research participants
and
to protect the wider society or community
within which the research is being
conducted
 Characteristics of Research
• objective
• precise
• verifiable
• parsimonious
• empirical
• logical
• probabilistic
 Types of Research
• Classifications…
– descriptive
• e.g., percentage of regular exercisers
– relational
• e.g., link between age and exercise
– causal
• e.g., effect of behavior change intervention on
exercise participation
 Types of Research
• Other Common Classifications…
– basic vs. applied vs. evaluation
– experimental vs. non-experimental
– analytical vs. descriptive
– Quantative vs. qualitative
Good research requires:
◦ Highly ethical standards be applied.
◦ All limitations be documented.
◦ Data be adequately analyzed and explained.
◦ All findings be presented unambiguously and
◦ all conclusions be justified by sufficient evidence.

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 Hypotheses
• A prediction of results made before a
study commences (statement of what
we expect)

• Researcher‟s tentative prediction

(reasoned - not a wild guess!)

• Hypotheses are designed to express

relationships between variables.

• A hypothesis is a statement that

something is true.
 Hypothesis ….
Goal: Make statement(s) regarding unknown population parameter values
based on sample data
Null hypothesis: A hypothesis to be tested. It is a statement regarding
the value(s) of unknown parameter(s). We use the symbol H0 to represent
the null hypothesis
Alternative hypothesis: A hypothesis to be considered as an alternative
to the null hypothesis. We use the symbol Ha to represent the alternative
hypothesis.
- The alternative hypothesis is the one believe to
be true, or what you are trying to prove is true.
 Null Hypothesis vs. Alternative
Hypothesis
Null Hypothesis Alternative Hypothesis

• Statement about the • Statement about the

value of a population value of a population
parameter parameter that must
• Represented by H0 be true if the null
• Always stated as an hypothesis is false
Equality • Represented by H1
• Stated in on of three
forms
• >
• <
• 
 Nonstatistical Hypothesis Testing…

• A criminal trial is an example of hypothesis

testing without the statistics.
• In a trial a jury must decide between two
hypotheses. The null hypothesis is
• H0: The defendant is innocent
• The alternative hypothesis or research
hypothesis is
• H1: The defendant is guilty
• The jury does not know which hypothesis is
true.
 Research Hypothesis
A research hypothesis is a logical supposition, a
reasonable guess and an educated conjecture about
what we expect to happen in our study.

A Good Research Hypothesis

• Is our hypothesis based on our research
topic
• Can our hypothesis be tested.
• Gives direction to research
• Identifies the variables of importance
• Is grounded in theory
• Is brief but with clarity
 Research Question
• A research question is the starting point of the
study. Everything flows from the research
question. A clear and concisely stated research
question is the most important requirement for a
successful study.
• A research question is the hypothesis of choice
that best states the objective of the research study.
• the choice hypothesis that best states the objective
of the research; the answer to this question would
provide the manager with the desired information
necessary to make a decision with respect to the
management dilemma.
 Investigative Questions
• Investigative Questions
– Questions the researcher must answer to
satisfactorily arrive at a conclusion about the
research question
– Investigative questions should be included in
the research proposal, for they guide the
development of the research design
– They are the foundation for creating the
research data collection instrument.
– The investigative questions stage may involves
several levels of questioning before it is possible
to develop satisfactory measurement questions.
 Measurement Questions
• Measurement Questions
– The questions we actually ask or extract
from respondents

– the questions asked of the respondents or

the observations that must be recorded.
 Levels of Measurements
Four levels of Measurements
• Nominal
– Measures categories
• Ordinal
– Categories + rank and order
• Interval
– Equal distance between any two
consecutive measures
• Ratio
– Intervals + meaningful zeros
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 Terms Introduce in Prior
Hypothesis
• Population  all possible values
• Sample  a portion of the population
• Statistical inference  generalizing from a
sample to a population with calculated degree
of certainty
• Two forms of statistical inference
– Hypothesis testing
– Estimation
• Parameter  a characteristic of population, e.g.,
population mean µ
• Statistic  calculated from data in the sample, e.g.,
sample mean (x )
• Rejection region - Values of the test statistic for which
 Hypotheses
• A prediction of results made before a
study commences (statement of what
we expect)

• Researcher‟s tentative prediction

(reasoned - not a wild guess!)

• Hypotheses are designed to express

relationships between variables.

• A hypothesis is a statement that

something is true.
 Hypothesis ….
Goal: Make statement(s) regarding unknown population parameter values
based on sample data
Null hypothesis: A hypothesis to be tested. It is a statement regarding
the value(s) of unknown parameter(s). We use the symbol H0 to represent
the null hypothesis
Alternative hypothesis: A hypothesis to be considered as an alternative
to the null hypothesis. We use the symbol Ha to represent the alternative
hypothesis.
- The alternative hypothesis is the one believe to to
be true, or what you are trying to prove is true.
 Null Hypothesis vs. Alternative
Hypothesis
Null Hypothesis Alternative Hypothesis

• Statement about the • Statement about the

value of a population value of a population
parameter parameter that must
• Represented by H0 be true if the null
• Always stated as an hypothesis is false
Equality • Represented by H1
• Stated in on of three
forms
• >
• <
• 
 Nonstatistical Hypothesis Testing…
• A criminal trial is an example of hypothesis
testing without the statistics.
• In a trial a jury must decide between two
hypotheses. The null hypothesis is
• H0: The defendant is innocent
• The alternative hypothesis or research
hypothesis is
• H1: The defendant is guilty
• The jury does not know which hypothesis is
true.
They must make a decision on the basis of
 Research Hypothesis
A research hypothesis is a logical supposition, a
reasonable guess and an educated conjecture about
what we expect to happen in our study.

A Good Research Hypothesis

• Is our hypothesis based on our research
topic
• Can our hypothesis be tested.
• Gives direction to research
• Identifies the variables of importance
• Is grounded in theory
• Is brief but with clarity
 thesis ~ antithesis ~ synthesis
• Thesis
– the original statement of an idea
• Antithesis
– an argument to challenge a previous thesis
– often draws on new data
• Synthesis
– a new argument from existing sources
– typically, resolves the apparent contradiction
between a thesis and an antithesis
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